Basil, always..._________________All in the world recognize the
beautiful as beautiful. Herein
lies ugliness. All recognize the
good as good. Herein lies evil.

JERIC
Fleet Admiral (Proprietor)

Joined: Feb 12, 2002
Member#: 1
Posts: 4939
Location: Richmond, VA

Posted:
Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:50 am Post subject:

EMMY-WINNING COMPOSER BASIL POLEDOURIS PASSES AWAY IN LOS ANGELES

"Conan the Barbarian," "Free Willy," "The Blue Lagoon," "Lonesome Dove" are
among Poledouris's many film and TV scores

LOS ANGELES - November 8, 2006 - Basil Poledouris, the Emmy-winning composer
of "Lonesome Dove" and composer for such films as "Conan the Barbarian,"
"Free Willy" and "The Blue Lagoon," died of cancer Wednesday, Nov. 8, in
Los Angeles. He was 61.

Best-known for his powerful music for action-adventure films of the 1980s
and '90s, Poledouris scored both of Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearances as
the sword-and-sorcery hero in "Conan the Barbarian" (1982) and "Conan the
Destroyer" (1984).

His orchestral-and-choral scores are today considered high points in the
genre of music for fantasy films. Poledouris conducted a substantial portion
of the reconstructed "Conan" score at a concert in Ubeda, Spain, in July.

The first Conan movie was one of several films the composer scored
for director John Milius. Others included "Big Wednesday" (1978), "Red Dawn"
(1984), "Farewell to the King" (1989) and "Flight of the Intruder" (1991).

Among Poledouris' other popular scores were "The Hunt for Red
October" (1990), "Wind" (1992), and "Les Miserables" (1998).

In stark contrast to his music for testosterone-driven big-screen
thrillers was his music for two television miniseries: the gentle Americana
of the controversial 14-hour "Amerika" (1987) and the folk-based Western
score for the eight-hour "Lonesome Dove" (1989), which won the composer an
Emmy.

Poledouris was born in Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 21, 1945. He began
studying piano at the age of 9, became part of a folk group in high school
and studied both film and music at USC. He scored a handful of television
projects in the early 1970s, but his feature scores for "Big Wednesday" and
"The Blue Lagoon" - both for former USC colleagues - catapulted him into
larger-scale features.

In 1996, Poledouris was commissioned to write music for the opening
of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. His six-minute piece, "The
Tradition of the Games," drew on his study of ancient mythology and Greek
philosophy and was performed by the Atlanta Symphony and a 300-voice choir.

In recent years, Poledouris - an avid surfer and sailor - moved to Vashon
Island, Wash.
He is survived by his mother Helen Poledouris; former wife Bobbie Poledouris
of Santa Monica; two daughters, Zoë and Alexis; his brother John Poledouris;
and dear friend Suni Kim of Vashon Island, WA. There will be no services. In
lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in his name be made to
the Catalina Conservancy or the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation._________________"Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?." -Maximus

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maddy
Lieutenant Commander

Joined: Jun 25, 2003
Member#: 2207
Posts: 452
Location: Houston, TX

Posted:
Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:19 am Post subject:

Godspeed, Basil. You were truly one of the greats! We will miss you._________________It's hard to soar with dragons when you work with gargoyles!

To get to this island, one has to come through my town and catch the ferry. He could have gone to Seattle and gotten on the feey also.
To think he was so close and so far away from the world. It is a very small island and they are a very tight community.

I will watch for news in our local paper.

We are once again blessed._________________A good sound track will let me relive the movie, I can cry over them as well. Hand me the tissues...please.

kinski
Ensign

Joined: Apr 14, 2003
Member#: 959
Posts: 22

Posted:
Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject:

Does anyone know of his own scores what one(s) were Basil's favorites? What did he consider his best score to be?

Sompee
Cadet 2

Joined: Dec 03, 2006
Member#: 16453
Posts: 7
Location: Belgium

Posted:
Thu Dec 21, 2006 5:38 pm Post subject:

I've only just recently become a fan of his work. I especially like his Conan STs. These are wonderful stracks that carry these movies forward. He'll surely be missed by us all.